In the Warmth and the Cold
by routavaurio
Summary: It seems the Pacific heat and volcanoes don't go well with winter spirits. A simple trip to fetch Bunnymund for a Guardian meeting leaves the Guardians with a delirious, sick Jack Frost to take care of. Another long day lies ahead.
1. Fried

**This is sort of a sequel to my other fic called "In Sickness and Health" as in it's referenced a few times, but this can be read independently. Warning: Silliness and possible grammar and/or typing errors ahead.**

* * *

**1. Fried**

Early spring in the northern hemisphere was always a slightly depressing time for Jack Frost. Seeing all that hard work, all those unique snowflakes and frost flowers melting into piles of slush was more than enough to make him feel down. Of course, spring in the north meant he had his work cut out for him in the south. And the higher mountaintops were still free game, so it was all right in the end. And now that he was a part of the Guardians, he could always go to find Bunny or just chat with North, or maybe go flying around with Sandy. And Tooth would no doubt welcome him any time especially if he smiled widely. So no, there was no fear of getting bored during the off-season this year. With that knowledge he could almost enjoy a little break after the busiest time. Yes, he could definitely enjoy spring, even if it meant dealing with the...

"Frost? I thought I made it clear it's time for you to go!"

Speak of the devil...

Jack was sitting in the wind, looking down to a very disgruntled, furry face that had popped out of the snow. The thing was small and chubby and would have looked almost cute if it wasn't scowling so dangerously at Jack.

"You listening, punk?" the head growled.

Jack smirked and waved his staff in a cheerful greeting he knew was very annoying to the other.

"Hey, Groundy!"

The Groundhog huffed.

"Don't get all friendly with me, Frost!"

"Don't _you _always get too grumpy."

Groundhog shook some excess snow off of his head.  
"I'm grumpy 'cause you dropped snow all over me!"

"I did not. It fell from that tree. Don't be such a sissy."

Groundhog rolled his eyes. For some reason the gesture didn't sit well with the furry face, and it amused Jack quite a bit. He wouldn't have minded sticking around for some more not-too-serious banter, but the Guardians were about to have another meeting in less than an hour. They had got together much more frequently after Jack had joined the group. Jack had a theory that it was partly because the others wanted to make sure he didn't make too much trouble on his own. He could have been insulted by the mild lack of trust, but he had to admit that he kind of deserved it. He did spend the entire last night decorating all the trees around him with an extra layer of snow just to make sure the Groundhog would shake some off when it came to chase Jack away from the area. Jack crossed his legs while still sitting on empty air and gave the still grumbling Groundhog another smirk.

"Alright, alright. You win. I have things to do anyway. Keep it cool."

"Don't you start making puns with me!"

Jack looked at the Groundhog blankly.  
"I wasn't. I... Oh, right, I get it. It wasn't intentional, I swear!"

"Good to hear," Groundhog murmured.

"I'll see you around."

"Yeah," the Groundhog's expression softened, but not enough to be genuinely friendly, "Stay away from my turf, kiddo. The sun might get you if you don't."

It was probably a threat. Jack wasn't quite sure. He didn't exactly get along with the Groundhog, but there wasn't outright hate involved either. Considering their meetings consisted of one party chasing the other off, there wasn't much room for friendship. In either way, Jack dealt with it with a smile and peppy friendliness. He knew it annoyed the other just a little, but not too much to turn the squabbles into an all-out war.

So he responded to the probably not a threat with a happy wave before speeding off towards the North Pole. If it had been a threat, it hadn't been a very good one. Even if Jack was the Spirit of Winter, that didn't mean a little bit of heat could bring him down.

When he thought back to this moment a few hours later, Jack would laugh at the irony of those thoughts. And then he would remember to never tempt fate again.

* * *

As Jack had some time ago boasted to himself in his mind, a bit of warmth wasn't going to bring him down. No way. A very sunny day and a close proximity with an active volcano, on the other hand... well, that was another matter. Jack usually avoided volcanoes. They weren't normally his turf, as some fluffy spirits would put it. But apparently certain Australian Cottontail had decided the day of a meeting was a good day to go hunting for some super exotic ingredients for his new chocolates. Bunny had been unusually late for the meeting, and the other Guardians had requested that Jack would go and see what the hold-up was. He had accepted, mostly because it was nice to feel trusted enough to get a special assignment. But when Jack had got into Bunny's Warren, there had been a noticeable lack of seven-foot rabbits in there. The mighty egg sentinels had after some communication issues finally pointed Bunny's location to be a small volcanic island in the Pacific. Definitely not Jack's turf.

But he had been told to get Bunny, so he would do just that. Jack caught the wind outside the Warren and rode it to the island. It was small and tropical and its terrain burned Jack's bare feet as he landed. He decided to stay airborne after that short contact with the ground and kept his trusted old shepherd's crook tightly hugged to his body, the frosted wood reassuringly cool against him. At least his ice powers would keep him from being fried in the sun. He scaled the small shore before the heat drove him under the shade of the few trees on the small patch of land.

"Bunny?" he shouted, not really expecting an answer, "Come on! Bunny! Meeting time!"

Weren't Bunny's senses supposed to be superior to those of humans? Jack stopped by the foot of the small, gently sloping volcano in the middle of the island and cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Bunny!"

Nothing.

"Kangaroo?!"

"_I'm a bunny!_"

The shout was faint, and it came from somewhere close to the volcano's crater. Jack smirked at his victory.

"I knew that would do it."

He found Bunny standing at the edge of the crater. The rabbit had a basket full of some unidentifiable ingredients with him. At least Jack figured they were ingredients. Bunny looked up when Jack stopped his flight and hovered high above the crater, a safe distance away from the lava.

"I heard ya, Frostbite," Bunny greeted gruffly, "What're you doing here?"

Jack blinked when a drop of something salty stung his eyes. Sweat? Okay, so it was sweltering hot, but it wouldn't bring him down. Sure, it was uncomfortable at best for most mortals, but Jack was a spirit. He was applying a cooling aura around himself as they spoke. Just because heat wasn't his thing it didn't mean he would...

"Frostbite?"

Jack shook his head and wiped his face with the still cold sleeve of his hoodie.  
"I was sent here to drag your fluffy tail to the Pole. Meeting time."

Bunny's green eyes widened.  
"Oh, that's right. 'Twas supposed to start a while ago."

"Yep. It did. You seem to be getting sloppy with age."

Bunny folded his arms and scowled.  
"You know we don't age. Though ya _could_ use a few centuries worth of common sense."

Jack was about to retort, but he had to stop to wipe more sweat from his face. And then... wait! He blinked rapidly. Was he seeing two Bunnies now?

"Snowflake?" Bunny frowned with apparent worry, "Jack? You okay?"

"I... I don't know," Jack admitted, surprised to notice how feeble his voice suddenly was, "It's kind of toasty here."

"It is. And ya look sick."

"I don't get sick," Jack protested, but even as he spoke, sudden nausea caused him to curl up in the air. He took deep breaths and tried to keep his breakfast – which consisted mostly of Christmas cookies – in. His free arm found its way around his midsection and he hastily enveloped himself in a layer of frost and ice, which started melting almost immediately.

"I'll be fine once I'm out of this oven," Jack managed to say between breaths that were surprisingly hard to take in, "Just get to the Pole, okay?"

Bunny had a very odd expression on his face. Or maybe it just looked odd because Jack's vision was swimming like a hyperactive dolphin. Maybe he had used too much of his powers to keep himself cool. Even staying airborne made him dizzy. That was actually very scary, considering how much at home he usually felt in the figurative arms of the wind. In fact, the whole situation made him more scared than the terrifying animated Finnish thin ice warning he had once been unfortunate enough to watch through the window of a house with a very big TV. He wanted to take off, to fly away from the blasted heat, but he could only curl up tighter and hope for the sudden moment of weakness to pass.

_The sun might get you..._

"Oh, come on!" he said out loud when the disembodied head of the Groundhog appeared in front of him, "I just had that conversation this morning! I don't need a flashback to remember it!"

"That's it!" Bunny huffed, "Ya're delirious. Get down here, I'll give ya a ride to the Pole."

Jack wanted very much to protest just to spite his friend, but his vision was dimming fast. He was getting sleepy. Very sleepy...

He dimly registered strong, fluffy arms catching him before he hit the ground.

* * *

North hadn't thought anything would go wrong when the Guardians had sent Jack to fetch Bunnymund from the Warren. All the other Guardians – North, Toothiana, Sandy, and Jack had been more or less on time for their meeting, but Bunny hadn't showed up. They weren't really worried. It was nearly Easter, so Bunny was just very busy. Still, a meeting was a meeting, so someone had to go and drag the Easter Bunny out. The main reason why the others had suggested Jack was that they wanted to make the boy feel more trusted. Their youngest was clearly starting to suspect that his abilities to take responsibility were being doubted.

They all trusted Jack. They really did. The boy had proven himself more than once. And he had quite splendidly taken care of the rest of the group while they had been sick a while ago. The boy had even managed to keep the elves in check. It was impressive, considering those pointy little idiots were the cause of at least twenty yetis going prematurely grey from stress. North had to give the kid a round of applause for that. And he had, several times.

The Guardians waited in the huge globe room at the workshop. The believing children's lights around the globe were reassuringly bright and nothing was wrong there. North was feeling even more energetic than usual and he felt like the ideas for the next Christmas were practically overflowing in his head. His two other companions seemed fine as well. Sandy's round, golden form was surrounded by creative dreamsand miracles even as they sat waiting, and Toothiana was as busy and bubbly as ever, flitting around in a blur of feathers and colour. Her fairies were apparently all on the field, seeing how she was surprisingly enough not surrounded by them.

It didn't take long for Bunnymund's tall, imposing, and fluffy form to appear at one of the doorways of the room. The grey bunny hopped over to the others, and North spread his arms in greeting. However, his joyful mood was very much dampened when Bunny reached over his shoulder to bring the limp form of a boy into his arms. A very familiar mess of white hair rested over Bunnymund's arm and Bunny gave an irritated huff.

"Yeah, this time it's nurse Frosty who ain't feeling so good."

* * *

**Author's Note: Meh. I was kinda not planning to write anything like this, since Jack getting sick has been done quite a lot. However, one guest reviewer by the nick Heather suggested I should write a sort of a reverse situation from In Sickness and Health and I thought well, it might help me get rid of this massive writer's block that I have concerning pretty much all of my original stories.**

**That Finnish thin ice PSA is incredibly creepy but it is also very effective and necessary in a country with hundreds of thousands of lakes that freeze every year.**

**The random conversation between Jack and the Groundhog was inspired by the fact that the weather really doesn't know whether to be winter or spring! It's kind of annoying and the roads are barely walkable, let alone bikeable (that's not a word, right?) because of all that slush and ice and icy slush. Gah!**

**Thank you all who have reviewed my other fics! If you feel like dropping a review for this one, I'd be very happy!**


	2. Delirium

**2. Delirium**

Jack's hearing was the first of his senses to come back. He could hear voices even before his consciousness decided its overly long coffee break was over and went back to translating the sounds into words.

"Antipodean sun, mate! What part of it can't ya understand?"

_The first part?_ Hey, that was a good one! Jack wanted to say it out loud, but his throat was too dry to make any sound save for a weak cough. It was enough to turn the attention of the voices to him, though.

"Jack?"

This voice was feminine. Motherly. Tooth?

"Jack? Can you hear me?"

Worried. Russian. Okay, that was definitely North. So Bunny had got Jack to the Pole like he had promised. Good. At least he wasn't at the Pacific any more. He was still feeling uncomfortably hot, though. Everything hurt. He almost didn't want to climb out of the pit of unconsciousness that kept the worst of the pain away. But the voices were calling for him, coaxing him to wake up. They were worried, that much was clear. Okay, maybe he should wake up just to get them to stop worrying. He had to allow his body to go on with its agonizingly slow reboot. Air seemed to be reluctant to enter his lungs. He was feeling nauseous. The Christmas cookies were burning at the back of his throat. They definitely didn't taste good the second time around. Well, at least his sense of taste had returned. That was two out of five... No, wait, three out of five. He could smell the cinnamon and ginger and other Christmas-y scents that were ever present at North's workshop.

"Jack? Are you awake?"

Then came the touch. He felt a small, delicate hand brushing sweaty hair from his face. His skin was overly sensitive, and the touch burned just a little, but it was a small price to pay for a comforting touch. He struggled his eyes open, and blackness gave way to a kaleidoscope image of bright colours and heart-shaped faces.

"T... Tooth?" he rasped, "And mini-Tooths?"

The faces looked worried.  
"No, it's just me."

"Oh..." Jack squinted his eyes, and the four or five Toothianas slowly merged into one, "I'm seeing double... like, double-double. That can't be good."

It was a long sentence to be spoken with a parched throat. Also, it didn't sound very intelligent even to his own ears. Maybe he was suffering from some sort of sunstroke. That would also explain the ringing in his ears and the ghostly pink monkeys that seemed to be floating in the ceiling. Jack coughed again. Tooth's big, purple eyes darkened and she sighed sadly. Her hand was still in Jack's hair, her fingers gently combing through it in an attempt to make him feel better. And it did, even though it didn't chase away the pain or the hallucinations. Or make his breathing easier.

Other faces invaded his field of vision. North's bearded one with worried blue eyes. Sandy's wide-eyed concern and Bunny's... well, Bunny-like face. Jack wasn't coherent enough to form many adjectives in his mind. The faces threatened to waver, mix together. Jack had to close his eyes when the room started spinning. He clenched his hands into fists, finally awake enough to miss his staff. His hands curled around bedsheets. He took a deep breath and forced himself to worry about one thing at a time. His mind formed a slightly incoherent status report. He was in pain and it was too hot. There were pink monkeys in the ceiling. But he was lying on an admittedly comfy bed with all the rest of the Guardians of Childhood surrounding him. It was probably the best place to be at the moment. Or second best, right after a snowdrift in the middle of a glacier.

"Try to stay awake for just a while," Tooth's gentle voice broke through his muddled thoughts, "How are you feeling?"

Stay awake? That wasn't going to be a problem. Jack wasn't really sleepy any longer. He was just very uncomfortable. And for some reason it all seemed funny to him, even though there was a small voice in his head that stated there was nothing funny about a heatstroke. Jack opened his eyes and tried to smile. His lips cracked.  
"Thirsty," he wheezed out.

* * *

When Bunnymund had barged in with an overheated Jack in his arms, everyone had sprung to action almost immediately. And in this case "action" meant "fussing". They had taken the ailing spirit to the nearest room with a bed and laid him down, all while making theories and guesses on the topic of proper treatment of a winter spirit with a heatstroke. They had settled for opening the room's large window, letting in the Arctic winds. They hadn't had time for more than that before Jack had stirred. Now he was awake, clearly a little delirious and understandably very thirsty.

North sent for the nearest yeti to fetch a lot of ice cold water. It happened to be the same yeti who had been in charge of the kitchens during the whole Guardians catching a cold -episode a few months earlier. The poor yeti had suffered some major stress and had had to spend hours sitting in his favourite armchair while soaking his feet in warm water and listening to whale songs from a jukebox. Jack had found this image far too hilarious to pass up and had taken a picture of it with a lime green digital camera he had snatched from North's camera manufacturing line. Apparently said picture had stood in Jamie Bennett's favourite Christmas card for the year. Now the blue-grey yeti was back to normal and hurried out to fulfil North's request. As the hairy form of the yeti disappeared into the corridors, North turned back to Jack. The boy was definitely not looking so good. First of all, he looked like the sun had sucked out all of his energy. He lay limply on his back, barely moving a muscle. He was sweating, and he wasn't covered in frost like he normally was. His eyes were half-lidded, the usually vibrant glacier blue dulled to almost dark grey. Toothiana was hovering over the boy – literally – stroking his hair and still asking a lot of questions in a soft voice.

"Does it hurt? Do you need anything else? Your breathing seems off; can you get enough air? Are your teeth still sparkly? Is..."

"'M fine..." Jack whispered. Then he giggled – wait, giggled? "You're pretty."

Tooth froze, figuratively of course, and then smiled awkwardly.  
"Um... Thank you?"

"You're all preeetty-yyyy-y."

"Great," Bunnymund rolled his eyes, "The ankle biter's lost it."

North sighed and knelt to Jack's bedside.  
"No. Just delirious. Will be back to normal once we get him cooled down."

He gave Jack's head a fatherly pat. Jack leaned into the cool touch instinctively, a weary smile spreading across his face.

"You rest now, Jack," North said, "This time we help you get better."

Jack tried to lift his head, but North kept it down with a firm hand.

"Rest," he repeated.

"Can't," Jack mumbled and closed his eyes, "Have to annoy Groundy some more. And I wanna make ice. Lots of it. Spring is depressing..."

He broke off into a hacking cough. Luckily the yeti returned at that moment with a pitcher full of ice water and a glass at its side. North impatiently took both from the silver tray they were on and poured a glass for the coughing boy. Tooth gently pulled Jack into a sitting position, arranging the red and green pillows on the bed better so they could be leaned on. With shaking hands, Jack took the glass North offered and for a moment didn't seem to know what to do with it. Then his coughing subsided enough for him to actually drink the water.

"T-thanks..." he whispered after the first sip. He looked very miserable. So miserable that North could almost think of him as just a sick kid instead of a temporarily incapacitated centuries old harbinger of winter. Jack downed the glass and then slumped back against the pillows, staring at the ceiling as if he was seeing something very bizarre in there. His face brightened, but it wasn't the good kind of brightening. It was more like disoriented giddiness that wasn't normal by any means.

"Monkeys," he stated.

"_Where?!_" Toothiana's head snapped up, her hands clenching into fists. Hate so strong it was almost tangible radiated from the usually gentle fairy, and everyone backed away just in case.

Sandy, who had so far been quietly standing in the corner, hastily tried to gesture Tooth to calm down. Tooth took a few deep breaths and visibly relaxed, the hate gone as quickly as it had come. She flashed an apologetic smile.  
"Sorry. Bad memories... you know..."

"Yeah," Bunny said quickly, discreetly putting away the boomerang he had a second ago clutched like a safety blanket against the rather frightening wrath of the Tooth Fairy, "Don't worry 'bout it."

Jack seemed to be oblivious to the childhood traumas he had just accidentally dug out. In fact, he didn't seem to have been listening at all for the last few minutes.

"It's funny," he said with a goofy smile on his face, "I'm seeing stuff. Jack Frost is seeing things. Jackson You-Have-To-Believe-in-Me-to-See-Me Frost is seeing things."

Sandy lightly hopped to the edge of Jack's bed. The little golden man created some sand images over his head and ended with a question mark. Jack seemed to find this funny. Just like everything else at the moment.

"Sure, Sandy. I'm feeling much better now... You're really sparkly, you know?"

Sandy nodded slowly. He then glanced meaningfully at the others and lightly tapped his temple.

"Tell me 'bout it," Bunny said, "Maybe ya should put him to sleep, Sandy."

"No!" Jack waved his arms lethargically, "I don't wanna sleep now! I think I'm cooling down... feels nicer. Hey, Bunny? What does the 'E' stand for?"

Bunny stared blankly.  
"In what?" he finally dared to ask.

"In your name," Jack said, "E. Aster Bunnymund. Is it something embarrassing? Like... Primrose?"

"Primrose starts with a 'P'. And no. Nothin' like that."

"What is it, then?"

"I think sleep really would do wonders for him now," Tooth said. She was fluttering a bit farther away from the open window now, hugging herself to keep warm in the steadily dropping temperature, "Sandy?"

Sandy nodded and snapped his stubby fingers over Jack's nose. The boy was asleep in a puff of golden dreamsand.

* * *

Since Jack seemed to be quite content in his sleep, they decided to give him some space. And they also wanted to make sure they didn't catch a cold again. The last time had been inconvenient enough. North did assign a couple of idle yetis to check on the boy occasionally, but the Guardians themselves gathered into North's library. Toothiana fidgeted in the air, glancing behind her as they entered. She was clearly worried. Well, when one had millions of tiny fairies to take care of, one easily developed strong maternal instincts. And despite not really being a kid, Jack looked and acted like one. Put two and two together.

"We shouldn't have let him go out there," Tooth blurted out and wrung her hands so nervously that North feared she would rip her own feathers off, "Antipodean sun, and a volcano!"

"We didn't know Bunny wasn't in Warren. And Jack is not made of ice," North pointed out, even though he couldn't really escape the sting of guilt over the whole mess either, "He should be fine in a while."

"But he was so... out of it," Tooth sighed, "I'm worried."

Sandy waved his hands to indicate that they all were. He also pointed out it was no use blaming anyone for it. At least not too much. Things happened. Life went on. It took even North a while to understand all that. Sandy's pictures were not always the best way to get a more abstract message across.

"You are right, Sandy," North said after Sandy had repeated himself for the third time with increasing frustration, "Now we just focus on getting Jack better."

"This'd better not become a habit," Bunny grumbled, "It's the second time in six months when our meeting devolves into playing nurse."

"It's definitely not nice," Toothiana admitted, "None of us is that used to any of this... being sick, I mean."

Yes, there were some things that one could easily start taking for granted while one was immortal. Such as the ability to shrug off almost any normal injury in a few moments. But then there were those moments of weakness that reminded them that even they had once been made of less sturdy stuff. A long time ago.

The situation could have turned into sombre philosophising about immortality, but they didn't get far down that road until a bunch of elves line-danced through the room, giving North a reason to yell and to forget about other things for a while.

* * *

**Author's Note: Mi-_täh_? I woke up this morning with over 50 messages in my inbox. I'm amazed! Thank you all!**

**I personally think Primrose is quite a pretty name. I think this chapter is quite good at illustrating my tendency to bounce between weird humour and more serious stuff. It can be a bit jarring, maybe? I don't know. It's something I personally enjoy, seeing how I have quite a dark sense of humour.**

**Tooth's bad memories involving monkeys, especially one specific Monkey King, can be found from the third novel of the Guardians of Childhood.**


	3. Art

**3. Art**

This time it was much easier to wake up. Jack cracked an eye open and was glad to note that his vision didn't waver or include flying pink things that shouldn't be there. His mind was much clearer as well. He was alone in the room. Good. He could use a bit of silence after... well, he didn't quite remember what had happened but he was sure it involved the others panicking a lot. The wind brushed his face, and Jack felt its concern in the touch.

"H... Hey, wind," he croaked and then grimaced at the sound of his own voice. It didn't sound good at all. He pushed himself up to a sitting position and reached for the water that had been left on the small night stand. The water was cold enough to soothe his aching throat. He drank almost all of the remaining liquid before he started feeling less dehydrated and more like himself. His energy was coming back, and as it did the whole situation started to feel stupid. He had been brought down by a little bit of heat. It was embarrassing, really. He should have been able to handle it.

Well, this was probably not the time to dwell on that. The important thing was that he was feeling better. He looked to the side and saw his staff leaning to the wall beside the bed. Bunny had brought it back as well. He was glad good old kangaroo had had enough sense to do that. The thought of the staff lying forgotten on the slopes of a volcano wasn't a nice one. Jack had to reach out and grasp his staff just to get rid of the image. The ancient wood was cold to the touch, and Jack felt much better now that the missing piece of him was back. He laid the staff over his knees and leaned back against the pillows, breathing in deeply. It was easier to breathe now, and the air was refreshingly cool. He should probably get up and tell the others he was fine. That way he would have a good excuse to move. Jack Frost wasn't made to stay still for too long. He rolled to the side and hopped out of the bed. He barely made it to a standing position before his legs gave out.

"Okay..." he muttered to himself, "So I'm not okay just yet."

Jack had ended up sprawled on the wooden floor, and he wasn't sure if he should try to get back up just yet. His head spun at the sudden change of altitude and he had to close his eyes when his vision blacked out. He let out a deep breath, accidentally freezing the floorboards beside his head. Well, at least his powers seemed to be working properly. He pressed his hands to the floor and watched familiar fern-like patterns spreading around him. He lay there on the comfortingly cold floor until the spinning in his head settled. Then Jack grabbed his fallen staff and sat up, smiling at another gust of wind that tousled his hair. It was trying to help him, he knew.

"Thanks, wind," he said, "But I'll be fine. I'll play with you later."

The wind gave his shoulder a light push, but then it slipped back outside, leaving only a slight breeze to keep the room cool. Jack leaned heavily on his staff and tried to will his legs to work again. A yeti walked by the door and halted when he spotted Jack on the floor. It grumbled questioningly, then walked over. Without any explanation, the beast grabbed Jack by the hood and dropped him unceremoniously back onto the bed.

"Hey! I was doing fine on my own!"

The yeti rolled his eyes and pointed sternly at the bed as a clear command that Jack should stay put. Then the beast stomped out, its heavy footsteps thundering back towards the workshop area. Jack crossed his arms in annoyance.

"So, I guess I'm stuck here for a while..."

The problem was that he didn't like being stuck anywhere. Not even in a very nice place. It didn't take more than five minutes for him to start fidgeting. He had been out of commission for, what, hours already? He needed something to do! He tapped his staff against the covers of the bed and watched ice crawl over the folds of the fabric. Then he grabbed the remaining water from the bedside table and poured it onto the bed, freezing it into a string of ice holding up the tipped glass. He smiled at it. It was definitely not his best work, but he didn't have much to work with. At least doing what he was created to do helped him wake up. Too bad he couldn't go outside yet, as tempting as the open window was. He wasn't in the mood for getting a bunch of yetis chasing after him, most likely armed with a sack. And making winter indoors was generally deemed as not a good idea. Although... Jack's eyes wandered up towards the decoratively carved rafters. Since this was his room for the moment, it would probably be okay if he gave it a nice, personal touch. North wouldn't mind. And the walls and the floor would make much larger a canvas than a window.

* * *

"...and that was why I got to collect _five _teeth from one girl just the other night. And the other one didn't fare much better."

North, Bunny and Sandy stared as Toothiana animatedly finished her story about a five-year-old girl who had bravely stood up to a bully somewhere in Bordeaux, France. The Guardians had decided to have a quick report session while waiting for their youngest to recover. They were all doing fine, although Bunny had felt obligated to express his concern of Easter which was just four days from now and reminded that his eggs needed supervision. The Pooka didn't show any signs of ditching them, however. Bunny might complain a lot, but he would always stick up to his companions.

When Tooth finished, it was North's turn. Of course, things had been fairly quiet for him. Early spring wasn't the busiest time in his workshop. It was more of a time for research and development. He needed to keep up with the most recent trends and develop new things that would fill the children with wonder. He had also been updating some old classics.

This is what he would have proudly stated, but just then a yeti walked in and growled that Jack Frost had woken up about twenty minutes ago. North wasn't sure why he was always interrupted by someone, but this time it was at least for good news. Sandy hopped down from the armchair he had been sitting on and gave a thumbs-up at the yeti, who saluted and returned to his duties.

"We should go see him right away!" Tooth said excitedly, "He's hopefully better already."

They all agreed and walked, hopped, and flew out of the library and into the corridor leading to the guest rooms. On the way North stopped only to grab more ice water, just in case. The door to Jack's room was ajar, and Sandy pushed past North and through the gap. The others followed, and North just about had time to push the door fully open before Sandy abruptly slipped and fell flat on his back.

"What the-?" Bunny stopped beside North at the doorway.

"What the-"was certainly what came to North's mind as well. When they had left Jack, the boy had been barely coherent enough to form complete sentences without giggling. He had also been listless and even breathing had seemed like a chore. Now during the twenty minutes the boy had been awake he had apparently summoned enough energy to cover everything in the room with ice and frost. The carvings in the rafters sparkled with icicles and the floors and the walls were coated with impossibly complicated frost patterns. North studied the nearest pattern closely.

"Fractals?" he mused out loud, "Impressive."

The artist himself seemed to be out cold again. Jack was curled up on the bed, hugging his staff like it was a stuffed animal. It was a rather adorable sight, and North heard Toothiana "aww"-ing before the fairy landed gingerly on the slippery floor and pulled Sandy back on his feet. Sandy nodded his thanks and then rose up into the air to avoid more slips.

Jack, his sleep disrupted by the commotion, frowned and curled up tighter.  
"Go 'way!" he mumbled, "I don' wanna work today, papa..."

The others shared a glance and then looked at Sandy, who shrugged and shook his head to indicate this dream wasn't his creation.

"Should we let him sleep?" Tooth asked in a hushed voice, "He looks like he needs it."

"I wanna go ice skating!" Jack said as firmly as a sleeping person could. Then his eyes fluttered open and he looked around confusedly, "Wait, what...? Oh, it's you guys."

Tooth was by his side in a flash.  
"How are you feeling?"

"Better. Definitely," Jack frowned, "What exactly happened here? After Pacific, I mean."

"Ya decided to get heatstroke an' then went all loopy on us," Bunny said helpfully.

"Loopy? Did I... say anything stupid?"

"Oh, yeah."

Jack groaned and hid his face into his hands.  
"I don't even wanna know..."

"Wasn't that bad," North assured. He carefully walked to the bed and sat down on the edge to the only spot in the whole room that wasn't frozen solid, "But do you remember doing all this?"

He gestured around in the now sparkly winter wonderland of a room. Jack nodded.  
"Yeah. I was getting bored sitting here. I kinda couldn't stop once I started. Before I started feeling tired again, at least."

"Great..." Bunny rolled his eyes, "You were supposed to rest and then you use all your time awake playin' Pollock on ice. That's not resting."

"Sorry," Jack mumbled.

Bunny's eyes widened.  
"Blimey, Frostbite. Ya're _really_ tired. Ya didn't even start an argument."

Jack smiled tiredly.  
"Consider yourself lucky, Cottontail."

His voice cracked and he covered his mouth when coughs shook his small body. North plucked the glass from where it was mysteriously standing on an ice spike and poured more water into it. Jack took the glass and quickly downed it, still shaking after the coughing fit was over.

"Still doesn't sound so good," North said sadly and rubbed the younger spirit's back in what he hoped was a comforting gesture, "Better, but not good."

"I guess," Jack said weakly, "As the kids these days say, this sucks."

"'Kids these days'?" Bunny repeated, "That sounds just wrong comin' from you."

"Just the fact that I age _really _well doesn't make me young."

"I think he's getting better as we speak," Bunny said.

"Focus, everyone!" Tooth suddenly spoke up, "Jack, how exactly are you feeling?"

Jack poured himself another glass of water and then shrugged his bony shoulders.  
"Still thirsty," he said when the glass was empty again, "And my throat hurts a bit."

"Let me see."

Jack hesitated for a second before opening his mouth. Tooth peered inside and nodded.  
"A bit irritated, but nothing serious. I think it's just because of the coughing. And... your teeth are as lovely as ever!"

"Tooth?" North said when Toothiana seemed to forget herself into the world of fangirling over pieces of skull, "Not time for that!"

"Oh, right!" Tooth let go of Jack's face, "Sorry! Again."

"Otherwise I'm fine," Jack finished now that he was allowed to speak again, "Maybe a bit... drained."

"Of course you are," North said and clapped his hand on the boy's shoulder, "Don't think you are allowed up yet."

"Yeah, I figured as much."

"And you cannot overuse powers."

"I didn't overuse them!" Jack frowned, "I just need to do _something _to fight boredom."

North thought about it for a moment. He pulled a deck of playing cards from one of his pockets. In about five seconds he had shuffled them in twelve different ways.  
"You want to play cards?" he suggested.

The answer was a very firm "_No!"_

* * *

**Author's Note: Happy Easter, everyone! I finally remembered to say it! Yay. I tend to almost forget that it's Easter, seeing how it's so early this year and I don't really do much to celebrate it. I did eat some chocolate eggs. And mämmi, of course.**

**Jack doesn't want to play cards because in my "In Sickness and Health" -fic he found out that card games are boring.**

**Jackson Pollock is an amazing artist (insert fangirl moment here)!**

**Thank you all who have reviewed! Also to those who favourited or followed. There are surprisingly many of you! That makes me happy!**

**So, one more chapter left after this.**


	4. Together

**4. Together**

They had settled for stories. It was a sufficiently peaceful activity and it definitely wasn't boring. Well, that depended on the storyteller of course. But in this case there were no bad choices. All of the Guardians had enough years – centuries – on them to have experienced a lot of interesting and appropriately whimsical things. At first Jack had protested, told the others to go back to work. But none of them would have any of it. Not even Bunny, even though he would surely have his hands full catching up with his deadline of getting the eggs painted and hidden for Easter once he got back. Instead of working they had just sat down onto the bed that was not really spacious enough for five beings of varying sizes and started taking turns in storytelling. They all seemed to be perfectly fine with abandoning their duties for a whole day and instead sitting cramped in a quite frankly freezing cold room just to keep Jack company. After realizing that fact Jack found it very hard to stop smiling even when smiling started to hurt.

It was Sandy's turn to be the storyteller, and he put on an amazing one-man show. He created dozens of images that danced around in the frozen room. He gestured wildly and used his expressions as much as he used his dreamsand. Occasionally he had to take a break to send forth a few good dreams that bounced out of the seams of the now closed window and found their way to the sleeping children around the world. Then he would always continue as if nothing had happened, conjuring up more sand miracles and dancing in the midst of them.

Even though Jack had seen the little dream weaver at work hundreds of times, he couldn't deny being totally enchanted by the act. He sat on his bed, hugging his knees while the other Guardians floated or sat by his side, all staring at Sandy's performance with varying degrees of wonder. Sandy made another vivid sand image that slowly dissolved at his command, and then started wrapping the story up. It finished with a _Fin _written over Sandy's head in nice cursive writing. The word hung in the air before Sandy let the grains of sand scatter and gave a small bow.

The others applauded.

"Wonderful, Sandy!" Tooth exclaimed, "That was one of your best!"

"Very good!" North nodded approvingly.

Sandy beamed at them.

"That. Was. Awesome!" Jack joined the complimenting with barely contained excitement, "I didn't even know a hang glider could get you into so much trouble."

Sandy gave another bow and then carefully let his feet touch the icy floor. He found a slightly less frosty spot on the floor and conjured an art deco -style dreamsand chair for himself.

"Who's turn is it now?" Tooth asked, "Jack, you're the only one who hasn't told a story yet."

Really? Jack did a quick mental check on it and realized Tooth was right. They had started with Bunny's epic adventure involving a time-traveller using an old car as the time machine and then moved on to Tooth's description of her childhood in a peaceful village in Asia. Then had come North's rather graphic tale of a ferocious battle he and his old bandit group had gotten into. Tooth had at one point commented on the unnecessarily gory details, but North had remarked that the even the youngest person in the room was over three centuries old and continued that the violence in his story was nothing compared to what Tooth had once sworn to do if she ever encountered the Monkey King again. It had shut the fairy up about the issue and made Jack morbidly curious of what exactly Tooth had sworn to do at the face of who was apparently her mortal enemy. He had decided not to ask, though, and Sandy's brilliant show had then made him forget about the whole thing for the moment.

But now it was his turn? All of the other Guardians were looking at him expectantly and it made him a bit uncomfortable. Being stared at was still kind of new to him.

"Sorry," he said, "I don't think I can top Sandy's show."

"Bah!" North exclaimed merrily, "Is not about topping anyone. Is about telling a story."

"I know. I just can't think of anything now."

"Really? Are you getting tired, Jack?" Tooth asked worriedly, "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine. What do you want me to tell about?"

"Something happy," Tooth said immediately. There was something odd about her smile. It was as warm and genuine as ever, but also strangely fragile. Jack didn't know why that was. But he decided to let it go and just shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I'm happy now. As in, right now."

It wasn't much of a story. The second part wasn't even much of a sentence. But it earned him a very moved smile from Tooth, and an awkward punch to the shoulder from Bunny. Sandy formed a dreamsand smiley face and North pulled Jack into a one-armed hug. The chilly air in the room seemed to be warmed up by the sheer mushiness that now surrounded them.

"C'mon, guys," Jack's voice was muffled slightly by the sleeve of North's coat, "Don't get _too_ sappy now."

* * *

It didn't take more than one day for Jack to go from an unconscious heatstroke victim back to his energetic self. When night began to fall and the Aurora Borealis – completely one-hundred percent natural this time – coloured the sky with vivid waves of light, Jack was already much better and ready to fly away. The others hadn't let him get up from the bed until they had made sure he was absolutely fine. It was annoyingly overprotective of them, but Jack decided to let it slide, just this once. Mostly because there was a little, childish voice in his head that kept repeating how wonderful being cared about felt. But the winds outside were getting way too restless to be ignored any longer, and Jack was restless as well. All the traces of the heatstroke were gone, and even the other Guardians had been finally convinced to leave him alone for a while. It was time for Jack to get back to the great outdoors.

He cracked the room's window open and hopped onto the sill. His bare toes curled around the edge, and he breathed in the fresh air. Cold wind stroked his hair, and he leaned forward, ready to dive...

"Close the bloody window, Frostbite!"

Jack froze in mid-step over the edge of the windowsill and turned back to see the mighty Easter Bunny shivering at the doorway. Tooth slipped over Bunny's head, her wings accidentally brushing Bunny's long ears and causing the rabbit to flinch rather comically.

"Jack?" Tooth asked, "What are you doing?"

"I was going to close the window once I was out!" Jack said defensively, "I'm feeling fine now. I want out."

Bunny studied him critically.  
"Ya do look better. And the sooner ya're out of my hair the better."

"Nobody asked you to stay," Jack fired back with a wide smirk. Ahh, meaningless arguing with neither side really meaning what they said. Yes, everything was back to normal.

"Yeah, well, someone is asking _you _to stay," Bunny said and crossed his arms. Probably to mask his shivering.

"Who?"

"North is!" Tooth piped in, "He had yetis make dinner!"

Tempting. Eating wasn't really a necessity for a spirit, but Jack had to admit that he had taken a liking to the yetis' cooking. He slowly slid back onto the floor and stood up straight, setting his staff over his shoulders and took a moment to think. On the other hand, he wanted out. He really did. He had been in one place for way too long.

"Ya coming?" Bunny asked.

And on the other hand, the Guardians had stuck with him through delirium, freezing cold and even ignored all the slips in their schedule because of him. So in return Jack could easily handle a few more hours without making it snow. In fact, it was safe to say that Jack was more than prepared to suffer through some very uncomfortable heat just for the Guardians.

He smiled at his friends and the open window slammed shut behind him, courtesy of the wind.

"Yeah, I'm coming."

* * *

**Author's Note: Alsksdlcmxls my brain is not working at all today! Gah! And of course that kind of day is the best day for doing the last edits to this story. But on the bright side I think this chapter sucked even before the edits... wait, that's not the bright side at all. But hey, it's done! And look at that fluff that is there to cleverly hide the fact that I'm temporarily running out of ideas. Yay. My writer's block is even taking over fanfiction-writing now it seems. BUT this story was quite fun to write so no regrets at all! And you people seemed to like it so that's awesome!**

**Okay, I put some random references in this chapter so I might as well mention them here:**

**Sandy and hang gliders: This is a super obscure one. When I was little I used to watch this German Sandman -show called ****_Sandmännchen. _****It's actually still on-going. So according to Wikipedia the show was first started in East Germany, and the fact that the Sandman used a hang glider in one episode was probably a statement against local travelling restrictions because hang gliders were forbidden in DDR.**

**Bunny and time travellers in a car: Kinda obviously a reference to Back to the Future. And to the fact that Bunny is a time traveller in the books and apparently uses his free time to make sure that other time travellers don't mess with history.**

**Tooth and the Monkey King: again, the books. Although so far she hasn't really sworn to do anything gory to the Monkey King, but she did at one point (SPOILERS AHOY!)**_consider snapping his neck with her bare hands, but then decided to just leave him to be brutally mauled by wild jungle animals_**(SPOILERS OVER).**

**I guess that was all? Thank you all so much for your kind comments and favs and everything. I'm so happy!**

**Have a nice weekend!**


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